Gender Factor in Lane Keeping and Speech Comprehension Dual Tasks

Driving-related dual-task performance has been studied by many transportation human factors studies; however, previous studies on the effects of cognitive load on driving performance have obtained mixed results. In the current study, we focus on the analysis of the effect of gender factor on lane keeping and speech comprehension dual-task performance with improved experimental control of potential confounding factors. The results showed that the speech comprehension task did not significantly affect lane keeping performance when priority was given to lane keeping, at least within the approximate 80 min of the experiment. The speech comprehension performance in dual-task showed a speed-accuracy tradeoff that sacrificed accuracy for speed. Males showed better lane keeping ability in single-task, because the increase of standard deviation of lane position (SDLP) with higher driving speed was less dramatic in males than females. Females showed better speech comprehension ability indicated by higher comprehension correct rate. The interaction between the gender and dual-task factors was only significant in a three-way interaction involving vehicle speed. It shows that females, in comparison to males, had a trend of dual-task lane keeping improvement with increasing speed. Implications from the results are discussed.